THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE LAND REVENUE.

West Coast Times, Issue 239, 28 June 1866, Page 3

THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE LAND REVENUE.

(from the lyttelton times.) The reference we made yesterday to the prospective handling of our land fund by the General Government will bear repetition. If anything ought W excite suspicion and alarm in the minds of our population, if is such an insiduous nci as this. If anything could make Canterbury cry out with one voice for Separation, and insist on havingit, it is this illegal grasping at our proViflcial revenue. But we do not wish to discuss Separation, or any other subject ok which n difference of opinion is likely to arise among us ; we ask only public and serious attention to what we believe to be a flagrant violation of our rights, and air nnjnistakeable threat of further injustice. In a paragraph which yesterday appeared side by side with the reference made to this move on the part of the General Govern*, nient, the particulars were exactly given. From the first of next month the Land Fund of Canterbury is to pass from the Receiver of Land Revenue into other hands than those of the Provincial Treasurer, pur readers are doubtless aware that, in fact, the offices of Receiver 1 of Land Revenue and of Provincial Treasurer are held by the same person. As Receiver of Land Revenue, Mr Ross, the present holder of the office, has his appointment from the General Government. His Provincial Treasurership he,, of course, holds under the Provincial Government. His simple duty is to pass the moneys received by him as Land Revenue Receiver over to his account as Provincial Treasurer, after making certain authorised deductions. But the new instructions issued are to the effect that he shall pass these moneys no longer into the Provincial Treasury direct, but into the hands of the local Sub-Treasurer of the General Governmeht. Now it is possible that this is niefety A piece of bravado, an exhibition of wanton abuse of power on the part of those who are " dressed in a little brief authority" at Wellington. Or it may be a threat hung over us, ,to make us all the. more submissively receive Mr Stafford's unpalatable nostrum of an Income-tax, It is difficult to believe that, even with all his well-kndwn hatred of provincial institutions, Mr Stafford can be meditating a bold stroke for their overthrow. But it is certain that his present thrust is aimed at avital part of their being. Whatever may be the form in which the ulterior, measures indicated by this act shall developc themselves, there is no mistaking the tendency of the movement. It leads to such an essentifil and permanent identification of the policy of the two islands as to convince us that we shall be bound by every act, and hare our local revenues pledged for every expense, connected with all future management of the native affairs of the Northern Islalid. It is not enough that we recognise our obligation to meet {he debts of the past war ; or that, so soon as the General Assembly is prorogued, the Premier hands over to Auckland the landed property of- the General Government, and money for the settlement of the land ; he nnist have'us tied down for all future time to pay the debts of northern politicians, and defray the expenses of the wars which landsharks, in their trafficking with the natives, may lead us into. There is no necessity for ill-will between the populations of the. two islands. The prosperity of the one should in no case excite the jealousy of the other, for they are naturally fitted to be mutual helps rather than rivals. But one thing is very certain, that the Middle Island will not again consent to pay the expense of wars in the North. Let Britain help, if she will, but we will not. This is all our controversy with the North. Thero is no use raking up past follies, or crying over spilt milk. The past war must be paid for by all those who* were consenting parties to it. But we will be consenting parties to no more such wars. . For the future, those who make the quarrels shall be left to fight them out." The ulterior purpose, not dimly indicated in ordering the payment of our Land Fund into the hands of the Sub.. Treasurer of the General Government, is not more mischievous than the proceeding is in itself illegal. The Land Revenue Appropriation Act of 1858 directs that the land revenue of each province shall, after certain fixed deductions have been made, be paid over by the Receiver to the Treasury of that province. By what authority Mr Stafford proposes to overrule this law it is impossible to say. His concern for the legality of his proceedings has become more than questionable. But we hope that in this case ho will be resisted. It is the duty of the Superintendent to vindicate our provincial rights, and to defend us from gross injustice threatened us without a shadow of legal excuse. We are sure that all our public men, of Svhatever party, and the general public as one body, will rally round him in the endeavor to prevent this outrage upon our institutions. The man who for the time wields the chief political authority of the colony is not above all law andjustice. Cannot the Superintendent apply for and obtain an injunction of the Supreme Court to prevent this illegal tampering with our revenue ? We should much regret to see the faintest shadow of the rowdyism of Victoria repeated here. ' But the circumstances are widely different. Here people, government and judge will be all on the same side. The one subverter of law will bo elsewhere.

Curious anomaly — That the grave accent should be used in any biit the dead languages.